I talk about Assetto Corsa a lot on this blog, and that's because it's a great platform for recreating any racing series you want. The range of cars and tracks available is simply staggering, and quite a few real racing series have cottoned on to this in the lockdown period. TCR Europe has hosted an eSports championship on Assetto Corsa. So has the Race of Champions. The forthcoming V10 R-League is another example of a professionally-organised virtual racing series, and let's not forget the Ferrari Hublot eSports Series with that 488 Challenge Evo, quite possibly the most sought-after car in the Assetto Corsa community right now.
And then there's the FIA European Truck Racing Championship.
They, like many others, have had to adapt to the global situation that forced a rethink of the way they organise races. Starting in May, they held the ETRC Digital, a virtual racing championship on Assetto Corsa with the drivers, trucks and tracks of the real series. And just so we're clear, these aren't pickup trucks I'm talking about here; these are 5 ton, 1,000 horsepower purpose-built semi trucks that are limited to 100 miles per hour, lest they punch right through the crash barriers.
Such vehicles don't really exist in Assetto Corsa, so the series has had truck mods specially made for this series. Whether the competitors drive a Scania, Iveco, MAN or Buggyra, those trucks have been replicated in-game. They've even gone to the trouble of recreating the Mercedes-Benz Actros pace truck and Ford Cargo official truck, and the races have all been overseen by qualified officials, race control and clerk of the course.
The final round of this series will be taking place this Sunday, the 16th of August, with race 1 starting at 18:00 CET (an hour ahead of British time), and the track will be Jarama in Spain. I'll be leaving links to livestreams of the previous rounds (and a link to the upcoming season finale), and keeping my fingers crossed that these truck mods will be made publicly available at some point. I really want to experience virtual truck racing of my own, and I'm sure there's quite a few people that feel the same way...
Livestreams:
Round 1: Hungaroring
Round 2: Misano
Round 3: Slovakia Ring
Round 4: Nürburgring
Round 5: Autodrom Most
Round 6: Zolder
Round 7: Le Mans Circuit Bugatti
Round 8: Jarama
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